


A Moment Outside the Catch Trap

by soo



Category: Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Catch Trap
Genre: M/M, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2008
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-16
Updated: 2010-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-11 22:09:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/117638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soo/pseuds/soo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whatever Tommy was expecting for breakfast, it wasn't this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Moment Outside the Catch Trap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Talya Firedancer (fyredancer)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fyredancer/gifts).



> As usual this story it wouldn't be nearly as good without the help of elyn, who took time out of her hectic schedule to edit this. Also thanks go to John, Bob, and my trainees who heard me whine about how far behind I was in my normal yuletide schedule.

June 28, 1970

"Good morning, Uncle Tommy."

Tommy smiled blearily and gratefully took the proffered cup of coffee. He slid into his seat at the kitchen table and took a long swig. "Morning, Punkin. Morning, Lucia."

"Uncle Tommy!" Suzy screeched indignantly, overpowering any response the older woman in the kitchen could have made to Tommy's greeting.

"What?" Tommy bit back a grin.

"I'm _twenty-one_ now."

"And you'll always be our Punkin."

Suzy sighed. "Is Babbo awake?"

"He should be down in a few minutes. When I came downstairs he was heading into the shower." Tommy pulled the newspaper to him and began to scan the headlines. Lucia put a plate of toast on the table. Eagerly, he snatched one up. "Thanks, Lucia." He began to read the paper in earnest.

"Uncle Tommy, do you know what day it is today?"

"Sunday, of course," he answered without looking up from the paper.

"I meant more significantly."

Tommy looked up puzzled. He couldn't think of anything of any significance that had happened on this day. As far as he knew, it was just an ordinary Sunday in the middle of the summer. A summer that the Flying Santellis were taking off to restructure their act to include Suzy, now that she'd given college a try and decided that it wasn't for her. Tommy had known all along that Suzy would be joining them, that it was only a matter of time. She was Mario's daughter, after all. But she had wanted so much to please Johnny that she had gone off to college and stuck it out almost to the end.

"It's the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots," Suzy said, interrupting Tommy's musings.

Tommy's face shuttered, and he glanced towards Lucia. It didn't look like she had heard. He motioned for Suzy to lower her voice. They had kept his relationship with Mario from Lucia all this time; he didn't want her to find out by talking about the Stonewall Riots.

Suzy continued, not noticing Tommy's gestures or the look on his face. "And there's going to be a march - a Freedom March - to commemorate the event. Kris, myself, and possibly Grandma Lucia are going."

"Lucia?" He asked incredulously.

Lucia had been puttering around the kitchen making breakfast and took his outburst as an opportunity to join them at the table.

"You're going to go this....this Freedom March?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. I want to support my granddaughter and her girlfriend," she squeezed Suzy's hand, then looked directly at him. "I would also like to support my sons, as well."

"I. We...." He trailed off and sat there looking flabbergasted.

"Tommy, I've known for years."

He swallowed, and it took a moment for him to find his voice. "You're okay with this?"

"I wouldn't be going if I weren't."

Tommy just stared at Lucia. She had been like a mother to him for so long, but he had never thought she would be able to accept that he and Mario were gay. They had hid it from her for so long, and they never once suspected that she knew. "You're really fine with Matt and me?"

"I would be lying if I said that I'd been fine with it from the very beginning, but.... You make each other happy. Happier than a lot of heterosexual couples that I know." She paused for a moment, then took Tommy's hand in hers. "I'm happy for you."

"And you want to go to the Freedom March?"

"Oh, yes. Suzy and Kris have been filling me in on how their rights are being violated, and I want to show my support and help you protest these violations." She squeezed Tommy's hand. "This is important, Tommy. Just as important as the Woman's Rights Movement that I participated in as a teenager and the ongoing Civil Rights Movement."

"Will you go, Uncle Tommy? " Suzy asked, no longer able to keep quiet.

Tommy looked at the women sitting across the table from him. Had it only been a few minutes ago that he had called Suzy 'Punkin'? Now when he looked at her he saw a woman that was willing to fight for her and her girlfriend's rights, something that he had never been willing to do. He had never felt comfortable in the gay community, no matter how many times Mario or Bart had taken him to a club. But Lucia was right; this was important. All he had to do was think back to when they were fired from Woods-Wayland for being gay to know that this was important. "If I can convince Mario to go, I'll go."

"You can convince Babbo, Uncle Tommy."

"He can convince me of what, Pipsqueak?" Mario asked as he entered the kitchen.

"To go someplace with Lucia and me today, Babbo." Suzy hurriedly pushed away from the table. "We better go upstairs and get ready, Lucia, if we want to get there on time."

Tommy watched in amusement as the two women scurried out of the kitchen like two rats trying to flee a sinking ship.

"So, where do they want us to go today instead of training?" Mario asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee, then joined Tommy at the table.

Tommy grabbed another piece of toast and took a few bites, trying to put off answering the question. He couldn't come up with any way to tell Mario that his mother knew their secret that wouldn't be a surprise. "They want to go to the Gay Freedom March."

Mario nearly spit out his coffee. "The Freedom March?" He paused, staring. "Lucia?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. She knows about us," Tommy handed him a napkin and slid his chair closer, lending him support via proximity.

"For how long?"

Tommy blinked. He hadn't thought to ask that question of Lucia. "I don't know, exactly. She said years."

"You don't know?" Mario's anxiety ratcheted up a few more notches.

"I was too amazed that she was accepting and happy for us to ask how long." Tommy slid closer still, so that they were practically sitting in each other's laps.

Mario slowly calmed down. "Happy for us?"

Tommy nodded. They sat quietly, hands seeking each other out under the table and gripping tightly.

Mario was the first to break the silence. "So she and Suzy want to go to the Freedom March with us." He smiled wickedly. "Then I guess we should go."

"We should?" The question slipped out of Tommy's mouth without thought.

"We should."

He looked in Mario's eyes, and for the first time saw a bit of his guard drop. "Okay."

Suzy flew into the room and hugged them both tightly. "I'm thrilled that you're coming with us, Babbo and Uncle Tommy."

"Were you waiting outside the door?" Mario asked once she loosened her hold on them.

"Maybe," she said a bit chagrined. She hopped off their laps and danced around the kitchen.

They both laughed at her antics. "Maybe you should go get dressed, unless you want to go the Freedom March in your pajamas."

"I'll be back in a few minutes, Babbo." She ran out of the room and they could hear her thundering up the stairs.

Tommy looked around the kitchen, and it dawned on him that they were finally out to all of their family members; Lucia had been the last one to know - or so they had thought. "So...we're out."

"Yeah." Mario paused. "You okay with that?"

Tommy took a moment to think about it. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Good," Mario said, and pulled Tommy to him for a kiss. And for the first time they kissed in the kitchen of the house they called home without any fear of being caught.  



End file.
